KHS strong to the finish

Although up by two scores, Kingfisher’s lead over Weatherford was anything but comfortable last Friday early in the second half of their non-district football showdown.

The level of comfortability became even more tense when the Jackets fumbled the ball over just a couple plays into the third quarter, setting up the visitors in fantastic field position.

But, as it did much of the night, the defense held firm and forced a turnover on downs.

It was a common theme throughout the night.

Although Weatherford did eventually pull within three points, the Jackets dominated the final 19 minutes, wore down the Eagles and earned a 38-21 victory in their home opener.

“I wasn’t sure how the game was going to go at that point,” said KHS head coach Jeff Myers of the early miscue that gave the Eagles a glimmer of hope to begin the second half.

“But our guys stepped up like they did most of the night.”

The win snapped a twogame losing skid to Weatherford, which won games of narrow margins over KHS in both 2020 and 2021.

It also put an end to a four-game losing streak for the program.

The Jackets lost their final three games of last season and opened this year with a 21-6 loss at Clinton.

A fifth consecutive loss looked possible early on as Weatherford took the opening drive 63 yards for a touchdown.

The score came on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Reece Villines to Nick Jett.

However, the defense surrendered just one more touchdown the rest of the night.

While Jett proved to a be a thorn in the Jackets’ side all night, KHS was able to contain the Eagles’ other big offensive threat, sophomore C.J. Nickson.

And the Eagles’ running game wasn’t able to pick up the slack.

The Jackets held Weatherford to 44 rushing yards on 25 attempts.

“I felt like our defensive front and linebackers did a great job of shutting down that part of their game,” Myers said. “Their run game really wasn’t a threat all night.”

The Jackets’ offense was able to put together its first scoring threat toward the end of the first quarter.

The defense forced a three-and-out and a short punt set up the Jackets at the Weatherford 39.

The drive ended 46 seconds into the second quarter when Jax Sternberger punched it in from the 1. It was the first of four touchdowns he was a part of on his birthday.

The Jackets took the lead with 5:38 to play in the half when Sternberger scored on a 6-yard run on a 4th-and-3 play.

The touchdown was set up by a 39-yard screen pass to Ethan Karcher on a thirddown play. Dallen Barton’s twopoint run made it 14-7 in favor of the Jackets.

That favor lasted all of 12 seconds.

Jett took the ensuing kickoff 86 yards to the end zone as the Eagles knotted the game up 14-14.

The momentum appeared to be on their side as they forced a quick KHS punt and took over at their own 45 with 2:56 to play in the second quarter.

Enter Cade Covalt. The junior who saw his sophomore season derailed by shoulder injuries sat at his safety position as Weatherford tried to strike downfield.

At the right moment, he broke on a Villines pass, picked it off and then followed blockers 56 yards for a Jacket touchdown.

Aaron Delatorre booted the extra-point - his first make in three tries to that point - to give KHS a 21-14 lead.

Delatorre wasn’t done making big plays in the half.

The senior linebacker pounced on a Weatherford fumble to give KHS the ball at the Weatherford 40 with 1:14 to go.

Then, with 1.6 seconds left, Delatorre’s 47-yard field goal attempt made its way through the south end zone uprights for a 10-point halftime advantage.

“That was a huge boost for us,” Myers said. “He had struggled on his first couple of extra-point tries this season, but I knew he had the leg. It was a great kick that gave us a lot of momentum going into the half.”

Again, the momentum was short-lived.

Barton was stripped of the ball just a couple of plays into the second half.

The Eagles didn’t capitalize on that drive, but did on their next one as Jett caught a 31-yard touchdown from Villines to pull the Eagles within 24-21.

That came with 7:35 left in the third quarter. It was one of the Eagles’ few remaining highlights.

After the teams traded possessions, KHS marched 71 yards over the final 4:00 of the third quarter.

Sternberger found Tristun Burnham for a 12-yard touchdown to give the Jackets back their 10-point lead.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Harrison Evans pummeled Villines as he was attempting a pass.

The pass went straight into the air and into the arms of the Jackets’ Daniel Guerrero.

That set up the Jackets’ final score of the night, a 23-yard scamper by Sternberger.

“Thatplayreallysummed up what our defense did all night,” Myers said. “We just kept stopping them early and wore them down late. It was great to see guys like Cade, Aaron, Daniel and Harrison get rewarded like that.”

Guerrero got a lot of second-half snaps after Jake Reagan was forced to sit out after suffering what appeared to be a concussion in the first half.

“He’s still got some symptoms,” Myers said Monday. “We’ll hold him out this week, but we think he’ll be good to go after that.”

KHS also spent a lot of the second half without the services of Noah Friesen, one of the players in rotation up front as well as the starting center.

Friesen went out in the second half with an apparent knee injury, opposite the one he injured last season.

“His ACL and MCL checked out OK,” Myers said on Monday. “His mobility was good and the swelling wasn’t bad. He’s going to get it checked further and we’ll see for sure what it is.”

Tanner Parker took Friesen’s spot at center. After an errant first snap, Parker shunned a glove he was wearing and helped lead the Jackets on their final scoring drives.

Offensively, Sternberger was solid behind center.

He was 7 of 15 with one early interception and one TD. His passes covered 83 yards while he ran for 43 yards and the three scores.

Barton got a bulk of the carries as his 15 touches landed 61 yards.

Karcher made the most of his six attempts as he garnered another 50 yards.

All told, KHS ran for 174 yards and averaged just over 4.0 yards per carry.

Kingfisher out-gained the Eagles, who were playing in their season opener, 257-144.

“We weren’t flashy, but very effective on offense,” Myers said. “I think that’s what you’re going to see from us all season.”

The defense, meanwhile, put together a second straight solid performance.

Barton led the team with seven tackles and was one of six Jackets who combined for seven tackles for a loss.

Two of those belonged to Delatorre, who added six tackles.

Wrigley Kennedy also had six tackles, including a sack.

Parker contributed five tackles for KHS.

“We’ve still got some things to clean up and we’d like to have even more of our younger guys prove they’re ready to step up to give our upperclassmen some breathers,” Myers said.

“But this was a step in the right direction. I felt we were able to wear them down, which is want we want to do.”

The Jackets host Chisholm this Friday in their final non-conference game and are off the following week.

Chisholm enters 0-1 after last weekend’s 68-15 loss at home to Fairview.